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The mission and on-board instruments

XIPE is designed to fit within a VEGA launcher. A sketch is shown in the figure below.

From left to right it is shown: (a) XIPE in the VEGA launcher fairing, (b) the complete XIPE spacecraft with fixed solar panels, (c) the three main elements of the XIPE spacecraft described below, (d) the telescope supporting structure together with the service module and the payload

(credits INAF-IAPS)

XIPE payload

The XIPE scientific payload is divided in three main parts: the Mirror Assembly (MA), the Focal Plane Assembly (FPA) and the Control Electronics (CE). These are sketched in the figure below.

XIPE scientific payload

(credits INAF-IAPS)

The mirror assembly

The Mirror Assembly comprises three identical Telescope Units (TUs), based on the long-heritage grazing-incidence reflection.